Tag: electric

Tesla is on pace to begin production at its factory in China in the second half of next year, the Shanghai government said Wednesday. Land leveling is basically complete and construction is about to begin, with the factory expected to be put partially into operation in the second half of 2019, according to an official WeChat post from the government. The article described a visit by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Vice Mayor Wu Qing. In mid-October, Tesla officially acquired an 864,885-square meter

Tesla is on pace to begin production at its factory in China in the second half of next year, the Shanghai government said Wednesday.

Land leveling is basically complete and construction is about to begin, with the factory expected to be put partially into operation in the second half of 2019, according to an official WeChat post from the government. The article described a visit by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Vice Mayor Wu Qing.

Tesla did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

In mid-October, Tesla officially acquired an 864,885-square meter plot in Shanghai’s Lingang area for the electric car maker’s first factory outside the U.S.

Elon Musk’s company has also launched an official WeChat account for hiring locals.

Producing in China, the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, would allow Tesla to reduce costs significantly. The company has said it is operating at a 55 percent to 60 percent cost disadvantage with a domestic peer due to ocean transport costs and tariffs.

Several Chinese auto and transportation industry leaders are preparing for a future in which people share cars, rather than own them individually. They’re probably more interested in accessibility,” Freeman Shen, founder and CEO of Chinese electric car company WM Motor, said last week at CNBC’s East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China. Traditional automakers, many already trying to navigate rising interest in the electric vehicle market, are paying close attention to

Several Chinese auto and transportation industry leaders are preparing for a future in which people share cars, rather than own them individually.

“(The new generation), they’re not interested in the ownership. They’re probably more interested in accessibility,” Freeman Shen, founder and CEO of Chinese electric car company WM Motor, said last week at CNBC’s East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China.

Technological advances in the last several years have aided the rise of multibillion-dollar ride-hailing giants such as Uber and Didi. They, in turn, have challenged the traditional taxi driver system and cultivated a habit of on-demand car services for tens of millions of users globally despite ongoing safety concerns. Traditional automakers, many already trying to navigate rising interest in the electric vehicle market, are paying close attention to the ride sharing trend. Notably, General Motors is testing the waters with its own rental program.

In China, Feng Xing Ya, general manager of Guangzhou-based automaker GAC, also said the future of the auto industry lies in car sharing.

“(It’s) a challenge for the auto industry because people may buy fewer cars,” Feng said in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation, during a Nov. 27 conference session.

German auto firm Volkswagen and U.K. grocer Tesco have teamed up to build the largest free electric car charging network in Britain. “People that live in a flat who might want an electric car can’t charge at home as they have to park in the street. Volkswagen hopes the use of the bays, which should be compatible with most makes of electric cars, will become habitual to shoppers. Volkswagen Group has said its VW brand should sell a million electric cars a year by 2025. On Wednesday, Volkswagen co

German auto firm Volkswagen and U.K. grocer Tesco have teamed up to build the largest free electric car charging network in Britain.

The two firms announced Friday that over the next three years they will install nearly 2,500 charging points in the parking lots of 627 Tesco stores across the United Kingdom.

Volkswagen U.K. board member Mike Orford told CNBC by phone that his company wants to encourage people towards electric vehicle ownership by removing anxieties about when and where a car can be charged.

“People that live in a flat who might want an electric car can’t charge at home as they have to park in the street. If they say, ‘Actually, I know I go to Tesco twice a week for a shop,’ then this suddenly feels quite viable,” he said.

Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have revealed that more than 120,000 ‘alternatively fueled vehicles’ have been registered in the UK in 2018 — a 22 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Installed by the charging network operator Pod Point, customers at larger Tesco sites will be able to choose between a free 7-kilowatt (kw) charger or a pay-as-you go rapid charge 50 kw option.

Orford said people wouldn’t need to be a Tesco customer to make use of the charge points, but the parking bays would be monitored in the same way as disabled or “mother and baby” spots.

Volkswagen hopes the use of the bays, which should be compatible with most makes of electric cars, will become habitual to shoppers.

“It is a bit like plugging in your mobile phone, most of us don’t wait until the battery is flat,” Orford said, before adding, “People can get a quick 10-minute charge while just buying a pint of milk.”

The cost is being borne by both Volkswagen and Tesco, but beyond stating that it is a “multi-million pound venture” neither company is revealing the expected outlay.

Volkswagen Group has said its VW brand should sell a million electric cars a year by 2025. The auto group announced earlier this month it would spend almost 44 billion euros ($50 billion) on developing electric cars, autonomous driving and new mobility services by 2023.

On Wednesday, Volkswagen confirmed it is deciding where to locate a new factory in North America to build electric vehicles for the U.S. market.

The U.S. head of Nio, an electric car-maker seen as one of the main Chinese rivals to Tesla, will leave the company, the firm said in a filing on Friday, the first major management departure since its September IPO. Padmasree Warrior, chief executive officer of NIO USA and global chief development officer, will resign from her posts on Dec. 17 for “personal interests”, the company said. Warrior joined Nio, previously called NextEV, in 2015, and led the company along with founder and CEO William

The U.S. head of Nio, an electric car-maker seen as one of the main Chinese rivals to Tesla, will leave the company, the firm said in a filing on Friday, the first major management departure since its September IPO.

Padmasree Warrior, chief executive officer of NIO USA and global chief development officer, will resign from her posts on Dec. 17 for “personal interests”, the company said.

Warrior joined Nio, previously called NextEV, in 2015, and led the company along with founder and CEO William Li to become one of China’s most legitimate challengers in the global race to develop electric vehicles.

Before joining Nio, Warrior was chief technology and strategy officer at Cisco Systems and chief technology officer at Motorola.

China is the world’s largest and fast-growing market for new-energy vehicles (NEVs), a category comprising electric battery cars and plug-in electric hybrids.

NEV sales in the first 10 months of 2018 came in at 860,000 vehicles, up 75.6 percent year-on-year.

Competition is, however, rising as Beijing looks to rein in subsidies that led to a huge array of EV contenders entering the market. Some of those are now being weeded out.

Tesla itself is building a car manufacturing plant in Shanghai to bolster its presence in the market and reduce its prices to become more competitive.

Nio’s shares – up strongly this year on robust revenue growth and bullish views from some analysts – dropped more than 4 percent in U.S. trading on Thursday.

In cities around the world, the sight of people using electric scooters is becoming increasingly common. Firms such as Bird and Lime, which offer users a platform that allow them to locate and hire electric scooters using their smartphone, are changing the way we think about urban transport. In Estonia, one business has developed an electric scooter that it says can fold up in two seconds flat. Whether electric scooters take off and become a popular mode of transport for urban commuters remains

In cities around the world, the sight of people using electric scooters is becoming increasingly common.

Firms such as Bird and Lime, which offer users a platform that allow them to locate and hire electric scooters using their smartphone, are changing the way we think about urban transport.

In Estonia, one business has developed an electric scooter that it says can fold up in two seconds flat.

Able to reach speeds of up to 16 miles per hour, the Stigo can travel a potential 25 miles on a single charge. The idea is that, by using a zero-emission scooter to travel short distances instead of other transport, users can save time and help the environment.

“Usually you need to have … a one ton or two ton vehicle to take a 70 kilogram person for maybe … a three kilometer distance,” Stigo’s CEO, Ardo Reinsau, told CNBC’s “Sustainable Energy.”

“But now we are able to take a 13 kilogram Stigo, for example, and take the same 70 kilogram person from point A to point B,” he added.

Whether electric scooters take off and become a popular mode of transport for urban commuters remains to be seen. Regulatory hurdles pose a significant challenge to their mass adoption.

In the U.K., for example, powered mini scooters are not allowed to be used on pavements.

If their owners want to use them on the roads, scooters would need to be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and then licensed and insured. Users would also have to obtain a driving license and wear a helmet.

What cannot be denied is that transport is changing. Hydrogen buses and trains, electric cars and ride-sharing services are just some of the new services now being offered. The bicycle is another mode of transport becoming popular.

“With respect to bikes, I think there’s a few things,” Boyd Cohen, from the EADA Business School in Barcelona, told CNBC’s “Sustainable Energy.”

“We’re seeing an explosion in new forms of two wheeled vehicles that are accessible to people — their own bikes, bike sharing, electric scooter sharing, and electric bike sharing,” he added. “All these will become more and more ubiquitous.”

The U.S. head of Nio, an electric carmaker seen as one of the main Chinese rivals to Tesla, will leave the company, the firm said in a filing on Friday, the first major management departure since its September IPO. Padmasree Warrior, chief executive officer of NIO USA and global chief development officer, will resign from her posts on Dec. 17 for “personal interests,” the company said. Warrior joined Nio, previously called NextEV, in 2015, and led the company along with founder and CEO William L

The U.S. head of Nio, an electric carmaker seen as one of the main Chinese rivals to Tesla, will leave the company, the firm said in a filing on Friday, the first major management departure since its September IPO.

Padmasree Warrior, chief executive officer of NIO USA and global chief development officer, will resign from her posts on Dec. 17 for “personal interests,” the company said.

Warrior joined Nio, previously called NextEV, in 2015, and led the company along with founder and CEO William Li to become one of China’s most legitimate challengers in the global race to develop electric vehicles.

Before joining Nio, Warrior was chief technology and strategy officer at Cisco Systems and chief technology officer at Motorola.

China is the world’s largest and fast-growing market for new-energy vehicles (NEVs), a category comprising electric battery cars and plug-in electric hybrids.

NEV sales in the first 10 months of 2018 came in at 860,000 vehicles, up 75.6 percent year-on-year.

Competition is, however, rising as Beijing looks to rein in subsidies that led to a huge array of EV contenders entering the market. Some of those are now being weeded out.

Tesla itself is building a car manufacturing plant in Shanghai to bolster its presence in the market and reduce its prices to become more competitive.

Nio’s shares — up strongly this year on robust revenue growth and bullish views from some analysts — dropped more than 4 percent in U.S. trading on Thursday.

“I’ve been having an extramarital affair for a decade,” actor Robert Downey Jr. said with a frown. But it was a new Audi that Downey admitted now lusting for, the e-tron GT, an all-electric supercar that the German luxury brand plans to put into production in two years. The e-tron GT was just one of many “electrified” vehicles debuting at this year’s L.A. Auto Show media preview, a mix running from mainstream to exotic. As many as 100 electrified vehicles are scheduled to come to market by the e

“I’ve been having an extramarital affair for a decade,” actor Robert Downey Jr. said with a frown. “With a brand,” he quickly added, his glum expression transforming into a grin.

The “Iron Man” actor turned out for a media preview staged by Audi to mark the opening of the annual Los Angeles Auto Show this week, and Downey ticked off a list of the various models he has owned in recent years, including one of the R8 sports car featured in the first film starring that superhero. But it was a new Audi that Downey admitted now lusting for, the e-tron GT, an all-electric supercar that the German luxury brand plans to put into production in two years.

The e-tron GT was just one of many “electrified” vehicles debuting at this year’s L.A. Auto Show media preview, a mix running from mainstream to exotic. Indeed, the industry is on the verge of opening the floodgates on dozens of battery-based vehicles — from “mild” hybrids to all-electrics — coming to market over the next 12 months. As many as 100 electrified vehicles are scheduled to come to market by the end of 2020. But while there’s plenty of new cars, an old question remains: will there be enough buyers to justify the surge?

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to strip General Motors of a tax credit that makes its electric vehicles more affordable for car buyers, escalating a dispute with the automaker over its plan to halt production at several American plants. There’s just one problem with the threat: GM is on the verge of losing the tax credit anyhow. The IRS offers car buyers a tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500 when they purchase an electric vehicle for use in the United States. However, after an automaker

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to strip General Motors of a tax credit that makes its electric vehicles more affordable for car buyers, escalating a dispute with the automaker over its plan to halt production at several American plants.

There’s just one problem with the threat: GM is on the verge of losing the tax credit anyhow.

The IRS offers car buyers a tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500 when they purchase an electric vehicle for use in the United States. However, after an automaker sells 200,000 electric vehicles, that manufacturer gets phased out of the program over the course of about a year.

GM expects to hit the 200,000-vehicle threshold by the end of this year. Once it hits that mark, buyers can still claim the full credit through the end of the following quarter, according to a breakdown of the program from InsideEVs.

Assuming GM does hit the ceiling by year end, its customers would still qualify for a credit of $7,500 for the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle and Chevy Volt hybrid through March. The credit then shrinks to $3,750 during the following six months, and then to $1,875 for the following six months before ending entirely. By that schedule, GM would no longer qualify for the credit after the first quarter of 2020.

That said, GM still has skin in the game. The company, along with Tesla, has lobbied U.S. lawmakers to lift the cap. Sen. Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, has proposed legislation that would lift the 200,000-unit limit and phase out the program for all manufacturers in 2022, Reuters reported last month.

Trump’s threat would face an uphill battle on Capitol Hill. Democrats will soon be the majority in the House, and Congress extended the EV tax credit last year, even with Republicans in control of both chambers.

In Paris, a start-up called K-Ryole wants to change the way that goods are transported by using self-propelled electric trailers that can be attached to bicycles. The load sensor is crucial to the K-Ryole system. Looking at the bigger picture, the way in which goods and services are delivered could change dramatically in the not too distant future. The types of transport used to deliver goods could also change. And we will certainly see more sustainable vehicles being driven to people’s homes, s

From ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft to hydrogen-fueled buses and electric cars, the way we move around our towns and cities is undergoing a transformation.

In Paris, a start-up called K-Ryole wants to change the way that goods are transported by using self-propelled electric trailers that can be attached to bicycles.

“It’s very different from the conventional trailer because we have two motors on the wheel and a sensor on the tow bar of the trailer,” Gilles Vallier, the company’s chief financial officer and co-founder, told CNBC’s “Sustainable Energy.”

Vallier explained that “embedded intelligence” had been developed to make users of the K-Ryole feel as if nothing is behind them when towing their trailer, even if they are carrying a load of 250 kilograms.

The load sensor is crucial to the K-Ryole system. “When you move your bike, you accelerate, the load sensor measures that you want to accelerate, so the K-Ryole accelerates its motor,” Nicolas Duvaut, CEO and co-founder of K-Ryole, said.

“When you brake, the road sensor feels the compression and it asks the motor to brake,” he added.

Looking to the future, the idea is for the K-Ryole system to help users transport and deliver everything from groceries to heavier goods using just their pedal bike.

The impact on day-to-day life could also be significant. “Each year in Europe 5 billion … parcels are delivered in our cities and this volume is constantly increasing and it causes many issues,” Vallier said.

“We have the issue of congestion, the issue of parking for a lot of utility vehicles that deliver these parcels,” he explained, adding that noise pollution was another issue. “That’s why we developed our trailer… to deliver all of these parcels without any nuisance for the neighborhood.”

Looking at the bigger picture, the way in which goods and services are delivered could change dramatically in the not too distant future.

“I think we’re going to see improvements in logistics to enable … more grouped distribution of things to people’s neighborhoods,” Boyd Cohen from the EADA Business School in Barcelona told CNBC.

The types of transport used to deliver goods could also change. “We’re looking at drones as a possibility, although that of course raises questions,” Cohen said.

“Do we want drones in our cities? And we will certainly see more sustainable vehicles being driven to people’s homes, so electric vehicles, electric buses, electric scooters. That will also improve the sustainability of last mile logistics.”

Electric vehicle sales will likely jump over the next two to three years as prices fall and more options are made available, according to BlackRock’s global head of thematic and sector investing. We’re expecting to see a big lift in electric vehicle sales over the next two to three years.” That would mark a big jump from 2017 when the agency estimated there were 3.1 million electric vehicles in use. That’s because most traditional automakers are now investing to create their own electric vehicle

Electric vehicle sales will likely jump over the next two to three years as prices fall and more options are made available, according to BlackRock’s global head of thematic and sector investing.

Customers will have more opportunities to move away from traditional combustion engines to electric vehicles and their options will not be restricted to only certain auto suppliers, Evy Hambro told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.

“I think we’re at this tipping point of change,” Hambro said. “Over the next two years, we’re going to see this massive extension of breadth of models, we’re going to see price point of entry drop as well. We’re expecting to see a big lift in electric vehicle sales over the next two to three years.”

Earlier in the year, the International Energy Agency predicted that electric vehicle ownership will jump to about 125 million by 2030, spurred by policies that encourage the purchase of clean-running cars. That would mark a big jump from 2017 when the agency estimated there were 3.1 million electric vehicles in use.

That’s because most traditional automakers are now investing to create their own electric vehicles. For example, Volkswagen recently said it will spend about $50 billion on new plants, electric cars, autonomous driving and other mobility services in an attempt to be the most profitable maker of electric cars.